“Aleshin took a veiled swipe at [Vitaly] Petrov , whose father is a prominent Russian businessman, saying success comes easier with a wealthy family: ‘It is easier for a person whose family can secure a place in Formula One,” he said. “The search for sponsors, if you don’t have a rich father, is something that accompanies you throughout the entire racing career.”

Comment of the day

Servasedo raises a recurring complaint about how F1 has changed in recent years – and notes an improvement:

Personally the one thing that bothers me the most is the safety car being brought out for the lightest of drizzle patches. It goes against the whole idea of racing in general.

People pay to see these drivers race and see who can perform the best on a wet track, not to drive in a procession behind Bernd Maylander. Some of those races just kill the enthusiasm for the race.. it?óÔé¼Ôäós times like that where I can sort of agree with those who say F1 is more boring than watching paint dry. I?óÔé¼Ôäóm all for driver safety but sometimes let the drivers take a risk and race.

On a side note I?óÔé¼Ôäód keep the points system the way it is now. There?óÔé¼Ôäós no need to tamper with it any more.Servasedo

I’m very happy for Grosjean, that things worked out for him as they did. He is for sure going to be a hit for France. And I think him having Kimi as a team-mate is perfect for his development. Focus is on the right things so is attitude.

Unfortunately this is why I think they are there to stay. The F1 Media and fans keep talking about how they are used to the fugly noses, how it’s all ok now, how the cars look ‘aggressive’ (no they don’t). People resist change, and then they resist change again. Really odd, we need to get a psychologist on here.

I have to laugh at Mikhail Aleshin’s comments. Being rich goes a long way in Formula 1 – but it’s no substitute for talent. Looking at their previous results in junior categories, Aleshin doesn’t have what it takes for Formula 1, and no amount of money is going to change that.

And its not as if money makes it a walkover for Petrov either, after all he they long doubted about keeping him for a second year and in the end the Enstone guys dropped him despite his budget when they expected Grosjean and Kimi to be a better teaming.
And I would say that Petrov shows he is fine in F1, he is closer to Heikki than Trulli was the year before, he got the podium and some impressive defenses from Alonso to show for it so far.

Maybe I’m being a little harsh on Aleshin. He did do quite well for himself in Formula Renault, and although he struggled in GP2 with Carlin, the team struggled all year, but really done well for themselves in 2012. But there was also a time when Aleshin was considered to be the premier Russian driver in the junior leagues, and a lot of people thought that if any Russian was going to make it into Formula 1, it would be him. He’s obviously since been surpassed by Petrov, and there is a group of Russian drivers – Kvyat, Sirotkin and co. – who could probably keep their head above water in Formula 1 as well. I think Aleshin feels that time is running out if he wants to make it in Formula 1.

The great return Grosjean has had so far this season makes me wonder how many other drivers have been unfairly or prematurely jettisoned out of the sport? Given how limited testing is now and the finite number of seats in F1, I often wonder if a driver of the calibre of Alonso or Vettel got to F1 and was dumped too early to shine.

@colossal-squid I’m sure there is definitely Sebastian Buemi there in that list. But the strange thing with Romain Grosjean is that he drove for the same team in his rookie season when things diidn’t go well. You may wonder if it was RS27’s issue. Fernando had a podium finish with the same car.

I would say the world is full of driver who one way or another never got their chance in F1, just think about some of the guys currently in Indycar, and many who only got a rare drive never to get a horrible car through pre-qualifying a couple of decades back.

Actually now that you mention Virgin/Marussia @george I don’t think any driver that’s down in that team has gotten a chance to prove their talent. Timo Glock is (or was) highly rated and has been with the team for going on 3 seasons, while Di Grassi, d’Ambrosio and now Pic have or probably only ever will have one season in a terrible car against a veteran driver to show their worth. It’s like a constant stream of Grosjeans!

I’ve been very impressed with Grosjean’s performance this season. Sure, he’s made a few “rookie” errors but overall he’s shown he can match and even beat his world champion team-mate. The future looks bright for him and I hope he gets that elusive first win soon.

Maybe so, but after the 2nd race of the season people won’t really care as much as they do during the winter testing. After all the 2012 cars all look normal enough to me now. I don’t even give the noses a second thought, it’s the racing that matters. Although the 2008 McLaren is one of my favourites.

I think its rather that most people know that its not much use complaining about it at every opportunity. But I still am amazed at how ugly it looks every time I see these cars, especially with the Ferrari (the video’s of Silverstone yesterday) and the Williams.

The slowest day for F1 articles that I can remember, and it’s not even the summer break yet!

I had a look over the Grosjean article, and I found it interesting to read what people thought of him back then. It seemed to me that those who thought he should be given another chance only just outnumbered those not impressed with him.

What was new to me was that one commenter mentioned that Petrov had been offered the mid-season 2009 Renault drive first, but that he had turned it down (and also that Hamilton had been offered to take over when Montoya left McLaren halfway through 2006, but turned it down as well). That’s interesting because I was under the assumption that a driver couldn’t turn down an F1 drive without harming his career, which is also what Grosjean said in a press conference recently: he didn’t think joining Renault in 2009 was the wrong decision, because that was an offer he ‘couldn’t refuse’.

Regarding the COTD, it it’s a little frustrating to see the Safety Car so often when it comes to the weather but I would hazard a guess that it’s deployment is more down to a lack of visibility than confidence in the drivers ability. I’m gonna guess that Formula 1 is particularly bad for spray, maybe more so than most racing series?

I wonder what the chances are of seeing Fisichella in F1 again. He will be 40 at the beginning of the next season but de la Rosa and Schumacher are even older. He said that winning Le Mans felt better than winning a race in F1 but I cannot imagine him turning down an F1 race seat offer if some competitive team approached him.

It’s interesting that, when talking about a possible replacement for Felipe Massa at Ferrari, people often assume that whoever takes Massa’s place, will be only a short-term number two driver, Alonso’s domestique for one or two years. I actually don’t think that a lot of drivers would be wanting to play that role, which is why Fisichella might be the perfect choice if the team decides to drop Massa. Unlike di Resta, Kovalainen or some other drivers that have been linked with Ferrari so far, Giancarlo certainly doesn’t have big expectations for his potential future F1 career (if he has any at all).

What is more, Fisichella is very experienced, very professional and has got along well with Alonso in the past. Isn’t that something Ferrari were looking for when they tried to hire Webber? Moreover, I think Ferrari still owe Fisico for the end of the 2009 season when he saved them from losing face completely but they ‘rewarded’ him with probably the worst Ferrari F1 car of the last decade. If Ferrari are really looking only for a ‘seat warmer’ for Vettel or whoever else, then I think they might seriously consider giving Giancarlo another chance.